


Gilmore Girls: Winter Again

by MurderousQueen



Series: Gilmore Girls: Another Year In The Life [1]
Category: Gilmore Girls
Genre: F/M, Luke/Lorelai Wedding, Rory is pregnant, This author is #TeamJess btw, Unofficial Sequel, Winter
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-11-29
Updated: 2016-12-24
Packaged: 2018-09-02 23:56:23
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 7,892
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8688568
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MurderousQueen/pseuds/MurderousQueen
Summary: Gilmore Girls: Another Year In The Life. It' Winter again, and it's time to see what the future has in store for Rory Gilmore and her little predicament. Direct continuation after the ending of Fall. More tags will be added as it goes along.





	1. (The) Gilmore Girls

Blinking. Gaping. More blinking. Not much breathing.

‘Are … you sure?’

‘Pretty sure,’ Rory confirmed. Her minuscule nod was further confirmation, of both the news and her nervous yet accepting, and almost defeated state towards the revelation of it. Of course, she went on to confirm to stop Lorelai’s worrying, saying, ‘I took the test yesterday. It’s only for weeks but it’s … it’s definite. I took two and then two more of another brand just to be sure.’

‘Well, you always were thorough,’ Lorelai commented with a disbelieving exhale that served as some sort of ironic laugh.

‘I would have taken more but I’m broke,’ Rory added.

There was a long pause during which they stared out across the cold and sleepy town. It was just beginning to wake, and the for show wedding preparations were soon to begin. There were people in town who were likely to riot when they found out that they’d missed the real wedding, Babette, Miss Patty, and Emily when she arrived later, of course. Liz would probably have some things to say about missing her brother’s wedding. Sookie would have things to say about missing her best friend’s wedding. And Jess! Jess would be pissed. Oh god, and Kirk, poor Kirk …

A lot of people would have a lot to say, but for once, Lorelai Gilmore had nothing, speechless in the face of unexpected and sudden news.

‘So … Logan?’ she managed to get out, presuming, stumbling over her few words. ‘Or … Paul? Was his name Paul? You just said someone named Paul broke up with you … right?’

Rory double checked her last received text message to confirm.

‘Yeah, it’s Paul. I mean no, it’s not Paul. Paul is his name but … Logan. It’s Logan. About a month ago, there was a thing, a Life and Death Brigade thing … Colin bought a club and an inn and a car and Finn was, well, Finn, and Robert said Finn was from New Zealand and Logan was … he was … there. And he was Logan. And we were … us. And we were stupid. God, mom! Why did I have to be so stupid?’

‘Hey, hey,’ Lorelai said consolingly, putting her arms around Rory and giving her a tiny squeeze. ‘Calm down. You’re not stupid. You’re not stupid at all.’

‘And now I’m making it all about me when it’s supposed to be _your_ wedding day, the day after _your_ wedding night! How _selfish_ am I?’

‘Rory, calm down!’ Lorelai insisted. ‘You’re not selfish, you’re … pregnant. Oh wow. That’s _huge_.’

‘Do you mean that in a good way or a bad way?’ Rory asked, her voice even again, ‘because right now I can’t figure that out.’

‘I … I don’t know,’ Lorelai said quietly, turning away to look out over the town once again. ‘You’re not sixteen. That’s a bonus.’

‘No, but the father lives in London and is engaged to another woman,’ Rory pointed out.

‘Well … when you put it that way,’ Lorelai allowed. ‘It’s sort of a … a pickle.’

‘It’s more than a pickle, mom. It’s the whole jar.’ Rory sighed, leaning her elbows on her knees and bending forward, hunched over with her chin resting in her hands, her eyes feeling thick, looking glassy if they were to be seen. ‘I don’t even know if I’m _telling_ him.’

‘It’s only four weeks,’ Lorelai consoled, ‘you have another eight months before you have to tell him anything. I’d recommend sooner, but it’s your call.’

‘I have no real job, who knows when or _if_ I’ll ever see money from the book,’ Rory went on, as if she hadn’t even heard Lorelai. ‘I have no place to live. I don’t even have underwear. I’ve gone a whole _year_ with one set of underwear. And the bra doesn’t even match the panties! To be a mother you need underwear. And at least one set of it has to match. You can’t be _reversing_ your underwear and going without when you’re washing it. And going a whole week in the same bra … I’ll need _new_ bras. And new clothes! None of my clothes are big enough for … for … for _that_.’

‘If it makes you feel any better, the longest I’ve worn the same bra is a month,’ Lorelai quipped, an attempt at humor. ‘Besides, how often are you supposed to change your bra anyway? And like I said. Eight months before you have to think about _any_ of that. You could get a part time job, earn cash for underwear, clothes … while you keep searching for something you want to do to keep you going until you publish that book. Another online magazine or something. You were good at that, weren’t you?’

‘Yeah, and then Obama had to go and get himself elected so I had no campaign to write about.’

‘Well, find something new to write about,’ Lorelai encouraged. ‘Find an interest and stick with it.’

‘You don’t think I’ve been trying to do that?’

‘ _Keep_ trying,’ Lorelai stressed. ‘And until then, do what I did. Take any job you can even if it’s beneath you until you find what you’re looking for. You can come and work at the inn if you want, I’ll need extra workers during and after the move, and if Michel leaves I’ll definitely need someone. Even if he doesn’t leave I’ll need someone because there’s times he won’t be able to me around as much. Did you hear the happy news? You’re not alone in this. He’s having a kid too. He says Frederick ordered one or something.’

‘Oh, goodie,’ Rory said glumly. ‘I might take you up on the offer though. I can make beds or something. Start out as a maid like you did. Wash some towels. Lay out some pillow mints.’

‘Maybe I’ll even let you man the front desk,’ Lorelai joked. ‘You were pretty good at that as a kid. I doubt you’ve forgotten _all_ the skills you picked up.’

‘Thank goodness for that,’ Rory said sarcastically. ‘But thanks, mom. Really.’

‘Everything’s going to be okay, kid,’ Lorelai promised, putting her arms around Rory again and this time feeling Rory’s slip around her in return. ‘I promise. I’ll do whatever I can to help you however I can. You know that, don’t you?’

‘I know,’ Rory confirmed, nodding against her mother’s shoulder as the two of them really surrendered to a real hug, holding each other because there was nothing else they could do right now, not until they came apart, and even then they couldn’t begin right away. They had a wedding to do, and someone approaching to remind them of the one they’d already done.

‘So what’s this I hear about you and Luke tying the knot last night?’ came the voice of the approaching Jess, strutting right up to the Gazebo and up the steps leaving one between them with his arms swinging and his eyebrows raised. ‘I mean I woke up to my phone ringing and it was Luke telling me, so I know it’s working. Why wasn’t I called?’

‘It was really, really impromptu, Jess,’ Lorelai said softly, reasoning with him as she looked up at him, his hair blowing in the wind.

‘And yet he says Michel was there. And Lane. But no, not me, not the nephew. I see where it’s at.’

‘Lane was on her way home from a gig with Zack at The Secret Bar!’ Rory testified for her best friend who wasn’t here to defend herself. ‘So she came!.’

‘And we knew Michel would be up, because the night before a big event he always stays up late deciding what to wear,’ Lorelai added.

‘We just didn’t want to wake you,’ Rory finished. ‘We’re sorry. Next time you’ll be the first one we call.’

‘Next time, schmext time,’ Jess muttered rolling his eyes. ‘By the way, Luke said if I see you two I have to tell you to get to the inn. It’s time to get ready.’

‘Already?’ Rory asked, while Lorelai checked the time.

‘We’ve been up all night,’ Lorelai confirmed. ‘Great. There’s not even time to sleep?’

‘You can sleep when you’re married,’ said Jess. ‘Oh, wait a second …’

‘We’re _sorry_ ,’ Lorelai groaned. ‘We’ll pay you back in favors and flirting. Rory, the last one’s on you. I’m a _married_ lady now.’

‘Save it,’ Jess replied, rolling his eyes. ‘Come on, inn, or Luke’ll call me again to complain. Man, that guy really has something jammed up his ass.’

‘Help me up, nephew-in-law, darling,’ Lorelai said haughtily, in her best married-lady voice, holding a hand up for Jess to take hold of so she could pull herself up.

Jess also offered a hand to Rory, who took it to be polite and got to her feet giving a little jump as she did so, and then she dipped back down to grab the glass, the empty bottle and the untouched bottle.

‘So that’s what you wear to a wedding?’ Jess asked, raising his eyebrows at Rory’s sweater-and-leggings attire.

‘What’s wrong with it? Rory challenged, the trio beginning to descend the steps.

‘Are you even wearing underwear?’

‘It’s in the laundry,’ Rory said defensively ‘It’ll be dry by the time the rest of the wedding comes around. Don’t judge me, Jess Mariano, I could tell some stories about you.’

‘The offer of me lending you money for underwear still stands, you know.’

‘No thanks,’ Rory replied sweetly, ‘I have a job now. Making beds, washing towels and maybe even manning the front desk. Right, mom?’

‘Right,’ Lorelai confirmed. ‘Jess, say hello to my new … assistant. Let’s call it that. Sound good?’

‘Sounds just fine,’ Rory nodded, determined now and looking and sounding more like her usual self.

‘Well good for you two,’ Jess nodded approvingly, giving each of them a grin. ‘Good for you two, the Gilmore girls.’

He flashed a grin and a brazen eyebrow waggle at Rory for the reference to her book.

‘Just Gilmore girls,’ Rory corrected, as the three set off in the same direction, before they had to go their separate ways.

‘Just Gilmore girls,’ Lorelai added, as they set off into the morning, ready yet oh-so unprepared for the day ahead.


	2. Game of Weddings

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GAME OF THRONES SPOILERS AHEAD. 
> 
> I'm so damn happy that Rory is an obvious Game of Thrones fan in the revival. SO HAPPY.

Lorelai fell asleep when having her makeup done, which made eyeshadow application easier to say the least. Rory managed to stay awake until her hair was being done, but the gentle tugging of the brush through it, fingers going through it to make sure there were no knots, was just too much and overpowered her. They’d been alert all night and they hadn’t even been drinking coffee, yet as soon as they made it inside the walls of the inn it was a struggle to keep conscious.

There was a lot to be done, and both Lorelai and Rory found themselves taking phone call after phone call from people double checking the time, or the location, and so on and on it went. With her hair and makeup fully done, Lorelai had to dash out to meet Emily at ten and check her into a room at the inn where she’d be staying overnight after attending the wedding, much easier than driving back in the evening.

The wedding had originally been going to take place in the evening after the early closing of Luke’s, but in the end Lorelai had managed to whittle Luke down and have him close the place just for a day – just one day! It’s not like they were going away after the wedding on some big extravagant honeymoon. So instead of in the evening, the wedding would be in the morning and the reception as likely to end before midnight, which suited everyone just fine.

While Lorelai met Emily, Rory had to go back to the town square and double check last night’s decorations were all back in place, and tables were being set up correctly. Thankfully Kirk was more confident today and wasn’t planning on throwing up in _any_ bathroom. The most trouble he had was with Petal trying to eat some ribbons.

Their short naps taken while getting ready weren’t ideal, but coffee, coffee, _coffee_ was their savior. Rory knew that maybe getting loaded up on coffee wasn’t the best idea in the world while pregnant but she swore she’d cut back, she just needed to get through this day without dying and then she could sleep for a week. Except she couldn’t, because she had to look for a writing job and she had a paper to get out and she had a book to write and she had a job at the inn to get to, and she didn’t even know exactly what she was doing yet.

The ceremony was at noon. It wasn’t as magical as last night’s little impromptu service in the Gazebo, but it had a whole other sense of magic and a tingling feeling to accompany it. Lorelai Gilmore was finally walking down the aisle in front of friends and family who had waited right there along with her, waiting since even before her, since the days before she and Luke had ever gotten together waiting for them _to_ get together. It felt like a million years ago now, and here they all were at last, everyone she loved and everyone that loved her, minus her father but she could tell that wherever he was he was just as astounded as Emily seemed to be with the fact that this was actually happening and Lorelai wasn’t backing out.

As she walked down the aisle in a simple yet elegant off-the-rack and not overly expensive ivory gown she wondered if it would feel different if she hadn’t already gotten married last night. It wasn’t often that one tended to get married twice in the space of twenty four hours. Maybe, maybe not, all she knew was that as cliché and little-girly as it sounded, she felt like a princess. And Luke, standing there in a suit with a pocket square, looked hot. Rande Gerber hot, as she and Jess had agreed on yesterday. Hell, he looked better than Rande Gerber hot. He looked Luke Danes hot.

The church was decorated with nothing but a few flower petals scattered on the aisle. They weren’t religious, they weren’t church goers and it was true that last night’s Gazebo wedding location was far more significant to the two of them, but everyone else in the town got married in the church so a simple ceremony there almost felt like a town tradition for couples being wed. Plus, beg in the church with pews in plenty saved them from having to set up individual seats facing the Gazebo; instead, outside, there would be chairs and tables scattered around for the reception, set number for better seating, but inevitably everyone would most likely just walk around and sit wherever they wanted.

And if it rained or snowed or got cold, Luke still had that old hand-made cover from Rory’s farewell party all those years ago.

And then Lorelai had no more time to think, because she was standing in front of Luke and Rory, the one to give her away, let go of her arm and went to stand off to the side. She wasn’t exactly a maid of honor, just like Jess wasn’t exactly Luke’s best man – he’d give a funny little speech and he was standing off to Luke’s side, of course but that was just tradition, and because Jess was a better fit than say, TJ for example, who was just as crazy as Liz, and Luke didn’t trust either of them not to say something weird about him. There would only be one speech per wedded party, bringing it up to a total of two and that was it.

And then party. Gifts. _Food_. Coffee. Champagne. _Coffee_. Flash mobs. An unexpected Karma Chameleon. Luke was just lucky Lorelai hadn’t asked Miss Patty to use the Spanish version of the song which she had recently discovered existed. It would have been even more ridiculous. Yet still better than Steely Dan. Gah! Lorelai couldn’t believe that she was marrying a man who would flash mob to _Steely Dan_. Marrying him for the second time in twenty four hours? What was she thinking!?

Finally the right thoughts. That’s what she was thinking.

It was over as soon as it begun. The ceremony wasn’t short, it wasn’t fast, but it simultaneously dragged on and sped by, mostly the latter, and then Lorelai and Luke were kissing and walking arm and arm down the aisle with a heard of people behind them – right over to the town square, no break between service and reception.

The ice skaters were more fun and quirky in the day time where late at night they’d seemed majestic and romantic. The rest of the decorations in the day screamed _party_ where they’d screamed _fairytale_ in the night, and the guests added to that party feeling as they rushed between tables and tables of buffet food and the hot dog cart and between trying to congratulate Lorelai and Luke first. Kirk, gracious DJ as he was, had music going in the background to fill the silence during congratulations and eating, the time between the first dance and the flash mobs that were to come.

‘Bombardment, bombardment I tell you!’ cried Lorelai, as she and Luke battled their way through the dispersing crowd towards the buffet. ‘Gee can’t a girl get married without the whole town swarming her like she’s Jennifer Lawrence? Or maybe Jennifer Lawrence has been standing behind me the whole time and I didn’t even notice. Hey – Luke – go find Michele, I need to tell him we finally bagged Jennifer Lawrence.’

‘I will _not_ go find Michele and tell him you finally – what does that even _mean_?’ Luke cut himself off mid-sentence to ask a question he knew he really shouldn’t bother asking because it’s not like he was going to get a straight answer anyway.

‘See, this is why we eloped,’ Lorelai complained without really complaining as she targeted the finger food and began to snatch at it without even getting a plate, putting this and that into her mouth as she stood there.

‘Technically to elope you have to actually leave.’

‘No you don’t,’ Lorelai frowned at him, turning her attention from the second most important – well, no, third most important thing in her life. Family, coffee, _then_ food. Although sometimes coffee came before family as Luke had clearly been forced to notice over the years and Rory had been forced to deal with throughout her lifetime.

‘You do. That’s what eloping is,’ Luke countered. ‘Leaving in secret to get married.’

‘Alright. Fine. You know what? Where’s Rory? She’s smart, she’ll know.’

Luke tried to search Rory out while Lorelai turned back to the food, Lorelai murmuring something about all this food making up for the one meal she skipped last night to fit into the dress and Luke didn’t bother mentioning she would have fit it without the meal-skip in the first place. He spotted Rory talking to Kirk by the DJ stand, Lane close by, the two of them trying to wrestle a resisting Petal into a white ribbon.

‘There,’ said Luke, pointing her out, and as soon as Lorelai spotted her she began to click-clack in her high heels through the crowd calling ‘RORY!’ over and over while simultaneously crunching on some weird thing that tasted like a lot of other things and looked like yet another thing so she couldn’t figure out what the main thing of the thing actually was.

Rory heard the call and started towards it, leaving Lane to struggle with Petal on her own.

‘You abandoned me!’ Lorelai declared as soon as they were face to face.

‘No I didn’t!’ Rory replied scoffing at the very accusation.

‘I can’t believe you abandoned your only mother on her only wedding day!’

‘You’ve been married before and you got married last night too.’

‘I can’t believe my only daughter abandoned me on my wedding day!’

‘I did _not_ abandon you.’

‘You abandoned me. Luke, can you believe it? She abandoned me.’

‘Don’t drag me into this!’

‘I didn’t abandon you!’ Rory insisted, making Luke very thankful indeed she didn’t give Lorelai time to respond to his response. ‘I’ve been with you all day. I had to leave so everyone in town could come up and congratulate you.’

‘Oh, so that’s what they’re calling it now.’

‘Mom. What do want?’

‘Define eloping.’

‘What?’

‘We need to settle something. Define eloping.’

Rory sighed, rolling her eyes, but didn’t question it again.

‘The exact definition is that it pretty much means running away secretly to get married.’

‘Yeah, but running _where_?’

‘Away from home.’

‘Does that have to be a far off location or can it be any location away from the house you live in?’

‘It depends on the person, I guess.’

Luke and Lorelai turned to each other in a mutual ‘HAH!’

Another eye roll led Rory away. Petal was now ribboned securely, so she veered towards her grandmother who looked to be suffering surrounded on either side by Miss Patty and Babette, both of their mouths moving like motor boats in a non-stop slurry of speech; Rory had to note that Emily looked less horrified than usual, just very confused by whatever it was they were saying, yet she seemed to be trying to smile and nod along all the same. Her smile was bigger than it had been in over a year, which made Rory smile despite herself as she headed over there, hoping to offer a helping hand in translating the mindless babble being thrown at Emily.

Lorelai had gone to seek out Sookie to gush, not for the first time, about how great the food was.

‘I’m just really glad you like it,’ Sookie replied distractedly, watching Jackson chase after a wayward, thirteen year old, very mischievous Davey who had a can of silly string while Martha laughed, the third and fourth of her offspring nowhere to be seen which was slightly worrisome. ‘I didn’t have a lot of time and I had so many ideas and I had to cut it down to bare minimum and stop myself and say “no, stop it Sookie. It’s not about what you want. It’s about what Lorelai would want. What would Lorelai want? Think like you did with the cakes.” I think it worked out pretty well … but I did manage to get some experimental dishes in there. Did you try the –’

‘Probably,’ Lorelai cut her off, ‘so please don’t make me regret it by telling me what’s in it or any other unorthodox thing I’ve eaten or will eat today.’

‘Okay gotcha!’ Sookie replied cheerfully, giving the thumbs up, proceeding to scream an abstract, ‘Davie, _no_!’ as she ran off to help Jackson without another word.

Lorelai heard a pair of giggles behind her and when she turned around, Vivian and Georgette, the youngest two daughters, were dashing away. Deciding it best not to run in her wedding dress, she let it slide. They couldn’t possibly get up to much mischief with Taylor on the loose over there, now talking to Rory and … oh, god. Poor Emily. He had her cornered too.

Not long after Lorelai spied the possible crumbling into balls of tears or her daughter and mother, Kirk, their glorious, multi-talented DJ and … host of sorts, announced that it was time for the formerly dreaded first dance, no longer dreaded because they knew they could do it since they’d already done it last night.

Reflecting Light had always been their song since the first time they’d danced to it at Liz and TJ’s wedding. Maybe it wasn’t the nicest thing in the world to steal a song as your song from another couple’s wedding, but it had been their first dance together, ever, so of course it was going to be their first dance last night, today, just in general really, as they held each other steadily until the music ended and then Lorelai jumped up to highjack the mic to announce her flashmob, which was followed by a short break for Rory’s (with references to things Emily asked her to say) speech about Lorelai and then Jess’s about Luke (embarrassing, but less so than if Liz had given it) and then unexpectedly (to most of the town, at least) what followed that was Luke’s flashmob.

The look on Luke’s face when Karma Chameleon started playing was priceless.

Horror. Confusion. Horror. Realization. Glaring at Lorelai; a marriage over before it had begun. More horror.

But the rest of those he’d enlisted in helping him with the flashmob knew of the change and didn’t bat an eyelid as they went into their routine for that god-awful Steely Dan medley it had been, only a little faster to suit the timing of the new song. And so, righteous husband and good man as he was, Luke followed suit.

The image of Luke dancing to Karma Chameleon was one Lorelai would never forget. Literally. She had multiple people film it on their phones and even without the video she doubted she’d ever forget the imagine of Luke dancing to Karma Chameleon.

She doubted she’d ever forget the image of Luke dancing, period.

Of course Luke did dance more after his flashmob, but slowly and with his hands on Lorelai’s waist, or around her, and he danced a father-daughter dance with April, and a sister-brother one with Liz which was horrifyingly interrupted by TJ and he had to endure that, but thankfully he got to dance with his young niece Doula after just a brief run of horror with TJ, and then Jess came over and decided to be a wise ass and he had to deal with _that_ and he wondered where in the sweet hell Jess had learned to _waltz_ because that’s what Jess was attempting with him, humming a waltz-type-melody to piss him off as he did. And finally, after he suffered through Jess, even he and Rory shared a dance, and even more unexpectedly, _Emily_ joined him on the dance floor … four about two seconds, during which she congratulated him solo and sincerely and then moved off to talk to Rory as Rory was leaving.

‘Aw, leaving so soon? Jess teased him as he left the dance floor to sit down near where Lorelai had sat and was talking avidly with Sookie and Jackson. ‘Come on. One more dance. I’ll even let you lead.’

‘Go ask Emily,’ Luke advised, with a sarcastic smile and a clap on the shoulder.

‘Maybe I _will_ ,’ Jess called after him.

Ah, Jess. So grown up. So different. But still displaying plentiful qualities of his old, bad-boyish charm from his teen years.

Jess actually _did_ approach Rory and Emily where they stood, lightly moving near the edge of the dance floor as they talked, a song by one of Lorelai’s many favorite artists playing from Kurt’s Spotify on shuffle. Thankfully, for this occasion, he had sprung for Premium. He was playing a playlist Lorelai had created on her own Spotify and that he was following avidly on his own. There were over two hundred songs and it was very unlikely he’d get through them all, especially with the alternating between the playlist and some Hep Alien performances, because it couldn’t be a real Stars Hollow wedding, let alone Lorelai Gilmore’s wedding, without some Hep Alien.

‘May I have this dance?’ Jess asked in an impersonation of a true gentleman as he reached Rory and Emily, both of whom had turned to him with a greeting look and surprisingly, smile. From both of them. A smile, from both of them. Including Emily. And not, like, a false smile. Or a tight smile. But a warm smile, daresay … a friendly smile.

‘I think that depends on who you’re asking,’ Emily said jokingly. Emily. Making a joke. Joking, with Jess. Ooookay. Weird.

‘Either lady,’ Jess shrugged. ‘I’m not fussy.’

‘I think I’ll let you take this one,’ Emily told Rory. ‘I’m going to see where I can get a drink and then check on what your mother is up to. I really, really didn’t think she’d go through with it but look at us now!’

‘It’s a miracle,’ Rory agreed with a small laugh, Emily beaming and putting a hand on her cheek in passing as she left.

‘So, may I?’ Jess asked.

‘May you …?’

‘Have this dance. Geez, Rory, forgetful in your old age?’

‘We’re the same age.’

‘I do it better. So come on. One dance.’

‘I didn’t know you danced.’

‘At weddings. At parties. I don’t make it a _hobby_.’

‘I saw you dancing with Luke earlier.’

‘I thought you said you didn’t know I danced.’

‘I also know you only did that to annoy him.’

‘Annoy him and please myself. To do something I need more than one motive, Rory, I’m not seventeen anymore.’

‘Clearly.’

‘So come on,’ he encouraged, ‘let’s go get _wild_. Get crazy, act like we’re ten years younger. It’s the perfect time, the music just changed.’

Rory rolled her eyes; both at Jess’s over-quirkily-smiling face, he brightness of his eyes, the timing of the song change and the song itself. Walk Like An Egyptian, The Bangles. Of _course_ that song was on the playlist.

And Rory really did want to keep acting like she was ten years younger today. It was one of the things helping her stay free of inhibition and pretend like her life wasn’t completely falling apart.

‘One dance,’ Rory insisted, putting her hand on Jess’s outstretched palm and allowing him to pull her out onto the main part of the dance floor. ‘One dance, that’s _it_.’

‘I promise,’ Jess grinned, an action full of mischief. ‘One dance.’

It was more than one dance. It was several, all of them upbeat (as most of Lorelai’s choices were – the songs ranged from old classics to insanely cringe-worthy things like Cotton Eyed Joe which she insisted was a classic, right up to cheesy pop hits from the early and then late 2000s.) When the music slowed, the song playing as Hep Alien set up for their first batch of songs, Rory and Jess went off together to get a drink – he went to get her some champagne but she stopped him.

‘Something wrong?’ he asked her.

‘Someone has to stay sober in case mom doesn’t,’ Rory replied very seriously, pleased with her lie. ‘I know Luke will probably be responsible and not drink much … but he may need help with her, drunk, sober, whatever way she ends up by this evening.’

‘Yeah, good call,’ Jess agreed switching it out for lemonade. ‘Speaking of the happy couple, maybe we should join them.’

‘Think you can handle my grandma?’ Rory asked, glancing over at the small round table they’d situated themselves at. For some reason, Kirk was there too. But Kirk seemed to be literally everywhere all the time so it wasn’t really that surprising. Somewhere on the area that served as dance floor, Lulu was dancing with Petal and Rory was certain she’d seen him there just a moment ago after leaving his DJ stand.

‘If she’s as nice as she was on the dance floor, definitely.’

So they went over to the final two seats at the table, drinks in tow, being greeted by laughter as they settled down, Rory by Emily (Kirk was on her other side, Lorelai on his) and Jess by Luke.

‘Oh, the things he used to say,’ Emily gushed, and then in what was clearly a (frighteningly accurate) impression of Richard, she went on to say, ‘“if Lorelai ever gets married I’ll eat my favorite golf ball” or “if Lorelai gets married and I’m not alive to see it, I daresay I’ll be attending her wedding as a ghost.” Out of the moment they sound quite harsh, but if you could have heard him when he was saying it, tipsy as he was …’

‘What are we talking about?’ Rory asked, as peals of laughter burst forth again.

‘Drunk grandpa,’ Lorelai said eagerly. ‘Got a story?’

‘No, no, he always managed to keep a clear head around me, drinking or not,’ Rory mused.

‘Well of course he did, no matter how old you got he always saw you as the bright-eyed young girl who came back into our lives as a top student at Chilton,’ Emily reasoned. ‘He’d never let his guard down like that in front of that young girl. He talked about you, too, you know, in his tipsy spells,’ she added matter-of-factly.

‘This should be good,’ said Kirk, even though he never even knew the man.

‘Did he? Rory asked.

‘Oh, yes. All good things. Things such as “that girl will grow up to report at the White House, I know it” or “she’ll be running her own paper in no time, I know it, and it will the most successful paper for years to come.” Another, as you got a little older, “Rory becomes more and more like Lorelai by each passing minute.” He never, ever said a negative word and I’m sure he’d be saying all the same things if he were here now.’

Rory felt her heart sink a little although she knew that wasn’t Emily’s intention; she didn’t know how hard it was hitting Rory that she’d failed at her lifelong dream, and now she had to give that up to boot. All she had was a book … and a baby. And there wasn’t much else to say.

But it warmed her heart, and Lorelai’s too, to hear that Rory becoming more and more like Lorelai was considered a good thing in her grandfather’s book, and her grandmother’s too.

‘Oh, the things he’d say today,’ Emily sighed fondly. ‘He’d probably make a joke about eating that golf ball, about how it’s unfortunate it’s not here, so instead he’ll just eat his words. And I know you’re not doing any more speeches, but he would insist, and it would be so, so full of pride, of happiness of well-wishes for the future and for the present …’

‘He was a great man,’ said Luke, quietly.

‘I’m happy to have met him,’ Jess added.

‘I wish I had,’ added Kirk, and then frightfully, ‘Petal, Petal _no_! Don’t eat that man’s pants!’

And so Kirk was gone, had dashed out of his seat to discipline his pig, and then it was just family.

Mother, daughter, granddaughter. Husband, nephew. An empty seat, where they all knew a proud father and grandfather should have sat, telling his stories for himself.

But the empty chair was soon filled by a smiling, calm, nose-ring-free April, who had apparently just been off terrifying Liz and TJ with her talk of her travels and grad-school. She’d left to dance with Doula, then laughed halfway through that because the poor kid who’d been stuffing herself silly with food and a slice of the cake that had been cut between speeches, threw up.

But ten minutes later, Liz and TJ and Doula dragged over three extra chairs, and conversations varied all over from April’s college experiences to Emily’s new home to vegetable cults, and Rory kept what she was up to slyly out of it all, briefly talking about her book, giving Jess credit for the idea, and then sliding away from it.

More and more people came and joined in and it broke off into more and more smaller conversations as the day progressed, going between talking and dancing and drinking and eating and Rory allowed herself to be flocked around all of the guests who were congratulating her on being back, and at last she admitted that she was back and _no, she was never going to hang out with the thirty-something gang so don’t ask_.

Since the wedding had been early in the day, things fizzled out in the evening when it began to get dark and cold and show signs of snowing which would just mess up nice outfits, so after a lengthy lecture about cleaning up everything from Taylor which ended in more congratulations, Lorelai sighed and looked at the small group that remained.

‘So, party at mine?’ she asked, mimicking a youth. ‘Kirk? Lulu?’

‘I think I have a few more hours in me,’ Kirk replied, always a frequent guest at the Gilmore-Danes household.

‘But I think we should get Petal to bed,’ Lulu countered. ‘He’s had a very exciting day.’

‘Ah. In which case I think we’ll pass thank you Lorelai.’

‘No worries, guys.’

‘Goodnight, everyone,’ Kirk offered as his odd two-species family began to leave, to responses of varied versions of ‘night, guys’ after which Lorelai continued.

‘And April, you’re still crashing on the couch, right?’

‘If you don’t mind.’

‘Never. Jess?’

‘Yeah, sure. I’ll sneak over to Liz and TJ’s when they’re sleeping so I don’t get dragged into that crazy stuff they were talking about when I last saw them.’

‘Mom?’ Lorelai added, almost hopefully.

‘Thank you, but no thank you,’ Emily replied kindly. ‘It’s a nice hot bath and an early night for me I’m afraid. It’s been a very busy day. Michel, always a gentlemen, is taking me to your inn. He wants to check in before he goes home. Such a hard worker.’

‘You’ll come say goodbye before you go home tomorrow, won’t you?’ Rory asked, tempted to give her a puppy-dog look just in case.

‘Of course,’ she promised. ‘Goodnight. Enjoy the rest of your evening. It was lovely getting to speak to you _all_.’

After the responses, Emily left, and they watched her go. The group began walking towards home.

‘Grandma’s changed,’ Rory commented.

‘She really has,’ Lorelai agreed with a sigh, burrowing into Luke’s side in the cold even though he’d given her his jacket because out of pretty much everyone at the wedding, April and Emily had been the only ones who had actually taken into consideration the fact that it was November and taken precautions along with it.

‘Here,’ Jess offered Rory, when he saw her hugging herself and rubbing her arms.

‘Oh, no,’ Rory declined, shaking her head. ‘I’m fine.’

‘You’re not,’ Jess corrected her, forcing the jacket around her shoulders, which she then accepted without complaint.

Jess raised his eyebrows in a way that said “really? You’re making that accusation _again_?” when he saw Luke give him a curious look. Luke replied with tilting his head slightly in a surrendering way as they all continued forward.

‘So you guys know that by party I meant pizza and a movie, right?’

‘But we just spent the whole day eating!’ Luke pointed out, aghast, although after all these years he really shouldn’t have been.

‘So?’ Rory and Lorelai replied at the same time. Luke said nothing.

‘Maybe we should watch a TV show instead,’ Rory suggested. ‘I haven’t rewatched Game of Thrones since the most recent season ended. And I just finished rereading the books. You know those are great to read on planes?’

‘Sure, sure,’ Lorelai agreed, as if she knew exactly what Rory was talking about with those books. ‘I think that’s a _great_ idea. I’ll bring out my Game of Thrones pajamas.’

‘I’ll pretend to be Jon Snow,’ Jess added, not enthusiastic, more sarcastically kidding but still sounding game.

‘You guys know that wall is a scientific impossibility, right?’ April asked in what sounded like it was supposed to be a sassy voice. ‘In reality it would collapse under its own weight. I mean, given the height, the width, the mass of all that ice …’

And so they were treated to a science lesson on the way home, which bugged hardcore fans Rory and Lorelai, but thankfully gave Luke no time to object to the plans for the evening being created around him; then again even when he did object, he always folded anyway, because he didn’t mind what they did so long as Lorelai was happy. He just wasn’t all that fussy.

He wasn’t even that fussy when he found himself surrounded by three pajama-clad fanatics (Lorelai in her Game of Thrones pajamas as promised – Rory and April sadly less themed) and a very smug looking nephew who kept glancing over and smirking at him in his confusion and discomfort in the face of the show, and in the face of the running commentary that Rory and April kept up as they kept talking about how accurate or inaccurate each individual scene or even line was to the books, fun facts about the books and the characters from the books and what the characters were supposed to look like and so on, even pointing out scenes directly from the unaired pilot, like blond Theon and Benjen with a different hairstyle and Ned’s randomly growing facial hair.

And then all hell broke loose when April said, ‘I prefer Ned and Catelyn in the show to them in the books. Their chapters are lowkey boring.’

‘Please tell me you’re kidding,’ said Rory, at the same time as Jess saying, ‘Amen.’

Cue instant mutual glare.

‘What do you mean “amen?”’

‘I mean I agree. Their chapters are boring.’

‘You’ve read the books?’ April piped up gleefully.

‘Of course,’ Jess scoffed. ‘A new hit show shows up and you think I’m not going to read the books before I watch it?’

‘So you agree with me on Net and Catelyn’s chapters then.’

‘Yeah, those are boring as hell.’

‘They are _not_ ,’ Rory insisted, tossing down her pizza slice and glaring at Jess in the armchair, lounging with his feet up and looking smug at her annoyance. ‘There’s _so_ much more information in the books. And it tells us their exact thoughts and motives and how they view things where the show just shows us what they’re doing and maybe, _maybe_ tells us why. And their chapters in the books show smaller, less noticeable differences in the show, like how in the books they’re thirty five but in the show they look older than that.’

‘Yeah, well, everyone in the show is aged up. It wouldn’t work as well if they were the right ages. The kids going through all that at that age on screen probably wouldn’t even be _allowed_.’

‘This is HBO. _Everything_ is allowed.’

‘It’s true,’ April added. ‘Although I’m still trying to decide who would allow the most graphic content. Netflix or HBO. Right now HBO is winning; HBO has shown uncensored human penises where Netflix has only shown the occasional vagina like that one on Orange is The New Black from the cellphone they found. I can’t remember if they’ve shown a penis or not but I don’t _think_ so.’

‘Ah geez,’ Luke grumbled. ‘Do we have to talk about this? I don’t want to hear my daughter talking about this.’

‘I’ll stop. But I’m just making my point.’

‘Still,’ said Jess. ‘I actually like everyone better aged up. There, I said it.’

‘You’re _wrong_ ,’ Rory practically hissed.

‘When it’s right, it’s right.’

‘Oh, so I bet you like how Jamie is still fawning all over his sister while in the books he’s managed to distance himself and become more independent, don’t you? I bet you like that there’s no Lady Stoneheart. I bet you like that Shireen and Selyse and Stannis and Myrcella and Tommen and … and … Mance Rayder and probably more are all dead. And yeah. I said Stannis. Because there are theories that outside of the show, he’s still alive.’

‘Woah, hey,’ Luke said cautiously, as someone who had literally only just started watching the show.

‘Woah, hey, is right. I’m still on the first book. Sort of,’ added Lorelai.

‘You read that two years ago,’ Rory frowned at her.

‘Yeah, and then I got half way through the second one, got bored, and by the time I wanted to start again this year, I couldn’t remember the first one. It’s like Luke with episodes of TV shows. He’ll be asleep any minute now.’

‘Asleep, asleep like I fall during Ned and Catelyn’s chapters,’ Jess said with a sarcastic, dreamy sigh.

‘Ha!’ cried April in agreement.

‘Something is _wrong_ with you people!’ Rory snapped, jumping to her feet. ‘Wrong, I tell you! _Wrong_.’

And then she proceeded to storm out.

And then she stormed back in with popcorn.

‘Can I have some?’ Jess asked.

‘Ask your fellow book-Ned-and-Catelyn-hater to get you popcorn if you want popcorn.’

‘April, can you get me some popcorn?’

‘Sure. Rory, can I have some popcorn?’

‘Ask your fellow book-Ned-and-Catelyn-hater to get you popcorn if you want popcorn.’

‘Jess, can you get me some popcorn?’

‘Sure. Rory, can I have some popcorn?’

Rory slowly turned to look at him. She narrowed her eyes picked up a handful of popcorn, and threw it at his face. And then she threw a cushion for extra effect.

‘Can I have popcorn?’ Lorelai asked.

‘Read the books first,’ Rory advised.

‘I’m _trying_ ,’ Lorelai groaned.

‘Fine. Have popcorn.’

‘What I want to know,’ Luke cut in with a curious look at the TV, ‘is why there are so many naked women in this show.’

‘Oh, Luke, but don’t you see?’ Lorelai asked with a dramatic flowing flourish, ‘that’s what makes this show so great.’

‘The uncensored language and nudity,’ Rory added.

‘The vulgarity of their words, the vulgarity of their actions.’

‘The insane leaders and extreme genocide.’

‘So, so accurate to how our lives will be if that orange-ass tangerine gets elected in a few days.’

‘Don’t talk to me about _him_ ,’ Luke said distastefully; the election was something Stars Hollow generally didn’t discuss much but, it was generally universal among them, that Hillary is who they were all voting for give or take the small group of weird people who lived on the edge of town and didn’t involve themselves with anyone but their group and looked like they’d be down for some murder.

‘Aaaaaaand there’s some more boobs,’ said April, changing the subject as yet another topless woman came on screen.

‘Imagine a Game of Thrones themed wedding,’ Rory mused.

‘You could have it in the Gazebo,’ Jess added. ‘Rent an Iron Throne and put it in there too. Guests could take pictures with it. And everyone could dress all old-timey and there could be a cloaking of the bride like we saw with Joffrey and Margery or Tyrion and Sansa.’

‘ _Tyrion and Sansa_?’ Luke asked in shock to no response.

‘No way. It would be Dothraki themed wedding. Get the horses from the Dragonfly, people could cosplay Dothraki warriors, there could be stands by the Gazebo, and the Gazebo could be where the Khal and Khaleesi sit …’

‘Oh, come on Rory. Westerosi weddings are way better than Dothraki ones.’

‘Is there _anything_ you’re not wrong about?’

‘I have to side with Rory on this one,’ April said with a sigh. ‘In a way, they’re very like ancient Roman Gladiator weddings and funerals with slaves fighting and three deaths. Historically accurate to at least one period in history. That’s why I like them so much.’

‘Here, April,’ Rory said coolly, passing the bowl towards her, ‘have some popcorn.’

‘Thank you,’ April beamed, accepting her prize.

‘Can I have some?’ Jess asked optimistically, his optimism met by both Rory and April snapping a sharp ‘ _no_.’

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes. I stole Melissa McCarthy's kids' names as Sookie's next two kids. Sue me.
> 
> Also it's been almost a month since I posted the first chapter ... but I have a lot of other fanfics that are ongoing and an ongoing original project with two other people (a series that's been planned for years) sooo ... sue me twice. 
> 
> I HAD SO MUCH FUN WITH THIS GAME OF THRONES STUFF!
> 
> And I know a lot of people don't like April but frankly I do. No so much in the revival with her weird weed thing and her being a basic her-age millennial young adult/late teen stereotype but I tried to squeeze that out of her.
> 
> I also tried to keep the wedding as close to canon as possible using all the info we got from Fall. I left out Kiefer Sutherland, but I'm sure he sent Luke his best regards even if he was too busy to get to the wedding.
> 
> Anyway, bye. I have to go and ... shockingly ... write stuff.


End file.
